Palms Presbyterian Sermons

Holy Habits (Part 4) Mark 2:1-12 Sunday, October 4, 2026 We often think of community as something that just “happens,” that it’s not the sort of thing we have to work at. In certain settings, this may be true. Christian community, however, is of such a special character that it doesn’t just happen—it has to be tended, cultivated, nurtured…like a discipline. Pastor Bryant Anderson preaching. Curren...

Holy Habits (Part 3) Isaiah 55:6-13 & Colossians 3:1-11 Sunday, September 27, 2026 The Christian tradition has often seesawed between too great an emphasis on the mind—imagining that we can know God with scientific certainty—and too little emphasis on the mind—scorning theology as heartless and fruitless, seeking refuge in the passions alone. The discipline of study—both of scripture and of th...

Holy Habits (Part 2) 1 Kings 19:11-13 & Exodus 3:1-6 Sunday, September 20, 2026 The quintessential spiritual discipline is prayer. But for all its importance, and despite broad cultural familiarity with it, we persist in holding a very narrow view of what prayer is—and what it is meant to do. Prayer begins when we, like Moses, realize that we are standing on holy ground. Pastor Bryant Anderson...

Holy Habits (Part 1) Deuteronomy 6:1-9 & 1 Timothy 4:6-10 Sunday, September 13, 2026 We have an intuitive understanding of the importance of physical health. So we try to make the right choices, but even when we don’t, we understand that we may be courting adverse consequences. The same is not usually true for our spiritual health. We tend to treat it—if we think of it at all—as something that...

Leviticus 25:1-7,19-23 & Luke 4:14-21 Sunday, September 6, 2026 Associate pastor Cassie Todd preaching. Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org .

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 11) Micah 6:6-8 & Acts 20:17-22, 28-35 Sunday, August 23, 2026 Paul says his farewells before making his way to Jerusalem, which more or less marks the end of his missionary efforts (as recounted in the book of Acts). And his parting words offer us a clear and simple distillation of the gospel: it is better to give than to receive. Pastor...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 10) Acts 19:21-34 Sunday, August 16, 2026 Some in the ancient world received the gospel as a balm—a message of comfort, peace, and welcome liberation. For others, however, the gospel was a threat: an unwelcome message that had the potential to disrupt people's way of life. The gospel still pulls us in both directions today, and it is in the u...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 9) Acts 19:1-10 Sunday, August 9, 2026 Having just a short stop in this city before, Paul finds himself back in Ephesus and he is able to spend a significant amount of time with them. In their time together, he unveils that they were taught about repentance but are yet to learn of the Holy Spirit. Building upon what they know, he baptizes the...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 8) Acts 18:1-17 Sunday, August 2, 2026 Adult Ministry Director Bill Wildey preaching. Current Series: Summer Road Trip The Apostle Paul did a daring thing in the years after Rome executed Jesus of Nazareth: he traveled around the Roman Empire spreading the message that Rome—despite its great power—was no match for the good news of God made kn...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 7) Acts 17:16-28 Sunday, July 26, 2026 In Athens, Paul encounters a city full of gods—a city always on the lookout for the next, newest, most interesting object of devotion. But where others might see the religious excesses of paganism, Paul sees restless souls seeking "an unknown god." To varying degrees, we all divide our devotion among man...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 6) Philippians 4:10-13 & Acts 16:16-40 Sunday, July 19, 2026 Parish Associate Craig Davies preaching. Current Series: Summer Road Trip The Apostle Paul did a daring thing in the years after Rome executed Jesus of Nazareth: he traveled around the Roman Empire spreading the message that Rome—despite its great power—was no match for the good...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 5) Acts 15:1-19 Sunday, July 12, 2026 Paul goes to Jerusalem to try to settle an intramural debate within the early church: do converts need to be circumcised in order to be full members of the Christian community? For the Jerusalem leaders, this is a simple question of faithfulness, and the answer is an obvious Yes. But for Paul, the gospel...

Summer Road Trip (Part 4): The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 4) Acts 14:8-18 Sunday, July 5, 2026 Paul performs a miraculous healing in Lystra, and the people who witnessed it, awed at the apostles' apparent power, begin to worship them as gods. The human heart is inclined toward worship, but this inclination can get us into trouble when we point it in the wrong direction. Bryant Anderson prea...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 3) Isaiah 61:1-5, 11 & Acts 17:1-9 Sunday, June 28, 2026 When the gospel comes to Thessalonica, an uproar ensues. And in the words of the apostles' opponents, the gospel is "turning the world upside down." This is what happens when the world and the gospel collide: things get turned upside down—our expectations, our certainties, even our...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 2) Acts 16:6-15 Sunday, June 21, 2026 Interim Associate Pastor Beverly Dempsey preaching. Current Series: Summer Road Trip The Apostle Paul did a daring thing in the years after Rome executed Jesus of Nazareth: he traveled around the Roman Empire spreading the message that Rome—despite its great power—was no match for the good news of God mad...

Summer Road Trip: The Missionary Journeys of Paul (Part 1) Acts 13 Sunday, June 14, 2026 Parish Associate Craig Davies preaching. Current Series: Summer Road Trip The Apostle Paul did a daring thing in the years after Rome executed Jesus of Nazareth: he traveled around the Roman Empire spreading the message that Rome—despite its great power—was no match for the good news of God made known to the w...

2 Corinthians 13:1-11 & Matthew 28:16-20 Sunday, May 31, 2026 Beverly Dempsey preaching. Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org .

The Church in Exile (Part 4) Jonah 3:1 - 4:1 & 1 Peter 4:1-11 Sunday, May 24, 2026 Exile can be a necessary reminder to the church that God’s love and work are not limited to us and ours; they are extended to the whole world. Our job as exiles is not to withhold God's goodness from others, but to be good stewards of the love and grace of God—to bear witness by bearing fruit. Bryant Anderson pr...

The Church in Exile (Part 3) Daniel 1:3-5, 8-17 & 1 Peter 2:11-17 Sunday, May 10, 2026 Daniel succeeds in exile not because he tries to succeed, but because he tries to be faithful. In the same way, the church doesn't become faithful by making a difference in the world; the church makes a difference in the world by being faithful. Bryant Anderson preaching. Current Series: The Church in Exile...

The Church in Exile (Part 1) Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 & 1 Peter 2:2-10 Sunday, May 3, 2026 So much of our sense of who we are is linked to place—where we live, where we're from, where we feel we belong. To live in exile is to be placeless, which can be more than disorienting; it can undermine our very identity. If the church is living in a modern exile, how can we root ourselves so that we...

Sunday, April 26, 2026 Psalm 137:1-4 & 1 Peter 1:1-2, 13-23 After the people of God suffer dislocation and exile at the hands of Babylon in the 6th century BC, exile becomes a key metaphor for how they understand their collective life in a challenging world, even long after they return to their homeland. For the Christian church today, exile remains a useful lens through which to view the chal...

Acts 2:14, 36-41 Sunday, April 19, 2026 Beverly Dempsey preaching. Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org .

1 Peter 5:1-5 Sunday, April 12, 2026 Bill Wildey preaching. Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org .

Get Ready (Part 7) Matthew 28:1-10 Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026 Life and death are both transformed on Easter: death is revealed to be much less potent than we thought, and life is revealed to be more enduring, more far-reaching, more eternal than we have fully reckoned with. Jesus leads the way into this new and strange life that is free of death's iron grip, but are we ready to live? Bryant Ande...

Get Ready (Part 6) Matthew 21:1-11 Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026 Jesus rides into Jerusalem—his so-called "triumphal entry"—on a donkey. This little bit of performance art is not only an intentional embodiment of a well-known prophecy (Zech. 9:9); it is also clear demonstration that he has not come to conquer or rule like a human king. It seems that people get the first part (prophetic fulfillment)...